PISGAH CEMETERY

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PISGAH CEMETERY

DRIVING DIRECTIONS: From Maben Ms travel along Hwy 15 heading North. Turn onto Antioch Rd to the right. Travel along Antioch Road until you reach where the road splits. Antioch Road veers to the left and Elmore Road runs to the right. Take Elmore Road and travel 2/10s of a mile. On the left will be an opening which leads to a pond. park car and walk along the pond bank on the right side. Walk about 200 yards through briars, weeds and pine trees until you reach a grove of oak trees. The grave yard is among this grove of oaks.

(at the present time you are able to see the grove of oaks from the entrance to the pond but in the future when the small pines grow you will be unable to see it.)

The property is presently owned by Mr. Bobby Bland of Cumberland MS.

3 unknown burial markers side by side

ALFORD INFANT, BORN & DIED JAN 30 1856, D/O J. & M.E. ALFORD

N.E. ALFORD, MARCH 13 1836, MARCH 5 1869

LUCY ALFORD, W/O M. ALFORD MARCH 10 1862, JAN 17 1889 AGED 26 YRS 10 MONTHS 7 DAYS

SGT. SOLOMON B. ALFORD, CO. H. 31 MS INF. C.S.A.

(NOTE: SOLOMON B. ALFORD ENLISTED AS A PRIVATE IN COMPANY H. 31ST REGIMENT MS VOLUNTEERS, ON APRIL 3 1862 AT SALTILLO, MS OR PERSIMMON SPRINGS MS. HE WAS LISTED AS A 2D SERGEANT ON THE "COMPANY MUSTER ROLL" FOR NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 1862, AND WAS PROMOTED ON NOV 17 1862. HE WAS SEVERELY WOUNDED IN BATTLE NEAR PEACH TREE CREEK, GA ON JULY 20 1864 AND WAS SENT TO A HOSPITAL IN MACON GA.)

AMOS BISHOP, 1813-APRIL 17 1871 AGED 58 YRS

MARY JANE CONSORT OF AMOS BISHOP DIED FEB 21 1870 AGED 52

NOTE: MARY J. BISHOP, AGED 32 BORN IN NORTH CAROLINA, DIED IN FEBY 1870, IN OKTIBBEHA COUNTY MS OF A WOMB DISEASE.)

E.G. BOYLS, DEC 15 1823, JUN 29 1851

JOHN R. BOYLS, APRIL 12 1787, JAN 26 1851

LYDIA BOYLS, SEPT 22 1795, DEC 6 1859 BORN IN TENNESSEE DIED IN OKTIBBEHA COUNTY MS OF DROPSY.

SARAH M. BOYLS, FEB 22 1837, SEPT 24 1838

MILTON BURCHFIELD, AUG 12 1870, SEPT 3 1870

JOSEPH S. FREEMAN, MAY 20 1853, JULY 31 1854, S/O R.D. & SARAH FREEMAN

ROBERT D. FREEMAN, JULY 23 1845, MARCH 9 1847 S/O R.D. & SARAH FREEMAN

SARAH FREEMAN, AGED 49 YRS & 10 MONTHS (STONE BROKEN ACROSS DATES UNREADABLE)

SUSAN MCDANIEL, BORN N.C. DIED IN MS FEB 28 1898 AGED 65 YRS

M.J. OBRIEN, AUG 11 1857, JULY 30 1878

JAMES PADEN, JAN 1 1787, AUG 6 1834

FRANCES PADEN, FEB 29 1788, JULY 29 1834 W/O JAMES PADEN

MIRANDA PARKERSON, DIED JAN 20 1879 AGED 76 YRS

JAMES THOMAS DIED JAN 2 1860 AGED 1 YR. 8 MONTHS & 13 DAYS DIED IN CHICKASAW CO. MS OF A BRAIN DISEASE.

NANCY WILLIAMS DIED SEPT 27 1872 AGED 42 YRS. 4. MTHS & 2 DAYS W/O JOHN WILLIAMS

JOHN W.J. WILLIAMS, CO. B. 24 MS INF. C.S.A.

(NOTE: JOHN WILLIAMS ENLISTED AS A PRIVATE ON AUG 24 1861 AT WEST POINT, MS IN CAPT. WILLIAM LYLES COMPANY MS CONFEDERATES. THIS UNIT BECAME COMPANY B., 24TH REGIMENT MS INFANTRY. THE "COMPANY MUSTER ROLL" FOR MAY AND JUNE, 1862, SHOWS THAT HE DIED AT OKALONA MS DATE OF DEATH UNKNOWN.)

INFANT WILSON, JUNE 14 1883, MAY 23 1885 S/O M.W. AND M.F. WILSON

M.F. WILSON, DIED AUG 27 1877 W/O M.W. WILSON

ELIJAH M. YEATES, JULY 6 1863, AUG 30 1866 S/O E.M. & V.I. YEATES

SARAH C. YEATES, FEB 26 1858, JAN 21 1860 D/O E.M. & V.I. YEATES (DIED OF CHOLERA)

MARY CLEMENTINE YOUNG, DIED MAY 2 1860 AGED 24 YRS. 1 MO. 28 DAYS. W/O G.C. YOUNG

NOTE: MARY C. YOUNG, AGED 26 BORN IN TENNESSEE, DIED IN CHICKASAW COUNTY MS IN MAY 1860 OF A BRAIN DISEASE.

GERTY G POLK, JULY 30 1873?, SEPT 7 1882 D/O H.G. & L.J. POLK

THE FOLLOWING IS AN ARTICLE BY J.C. ALFORD ON THE PISGAH CEMETERY, WEBSTER COUNTY MS:

THE PISGAH CEMETERY WHICH APPEARED IN WEBSTER COUNTY HISTORY ASSOCIATION, "THE HISTORY OF WEBSTER COUNTY, MS" (DALLAS, TEXAS, CURTIS MEDIA CORPORATION COPYRIGHT 1985 PP 96-97.

"THE FOLLOWING IS A DESCRIPTION OF AN OLD GRAVEYARD LOCATED IN THE EASTER PART OF WEBSTER COUNTY. MY GUESS IS THAT IT IS ABOUT TWO MILES WEST OF THE CLAY COUNTY LINE AND ABOUT THREE MILES NORTHEAST OF THE VILLAGE OF CUMBERLAND. THE NAME OF THIS GRAVEYARD IS PISGAH.

"THE OLDEST TOMBSTONE THERE IS OF JAMES PEDAN. ALSO, ONE OF HIS WIVES. THEY DIED JULY 29 AND AUG. 6 1835. I AM NOT ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN ABOUT THE DAYS OF THE MONTH, AS I HAVE NOT SEEN THEM IN SEVERAL YEARS, BUT I AM CERTAIN ABOUT THE MONTHS AND THE YEAR.

"THIS WAS FORMERLY A THRIVING COMMUNITY. I WENT TO MY FIRST SCHOOL AT THIS PLACE. AT THAT TIME, THERE WAS A LOG CHURCH THERE. THE SCHOOL HOUSE WAS A SMALL ONE-ROOM FRAME BUILDING. THE TEACHER WAS MISS ELLEN PARKERSON. I HAVE HEARD IT SAID THAT THERE ARE DOCTORS, LAWYERS, AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL MEN BURIED THERE. I SHOULD HAVE MENTIONED THAT THERE ARE SOME MORE VERY OLD TOMBSTONES THERE. BOYLES, AND THOMASES. "IT IS AN ANTE-BELLUM GRAVEYARD. WHITE PEOPLE ARE BURIED ON THE EAST SIDE AND COLORED PEOPLE ON THE WEST. THEY LAST WHITE PERSON BURIED THERE WAS MRS. ANN WILSON, WIFE OF MARCELLES WILSON, ONE OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF THE COUNTIES WHICH PRECEDED WEBSTER.

"EITHER ANY SPENN OR HIS WIFE WAS THE LAST BLACK BURIED THERE. ANDY WAS AN OLD-TIME BLACK RESPECTED BY ALL WHO KNEW HIM, BOTH WHITE AND COLORED. SOME OF THE FAMILY OF DR. ANDREW THOMAS ARE BURIED THERE. DR. THOMAS LIVED ABOUT THREE-FOURTHS OF A MILE EAST OF THIS GRAVEYARD, IN WHAT NOW LOOKS LIKE A STARVATION SPOT, BUT HE FARMED AND OPERATED A HORSE GIN AND PRACTICED MEDICINE, AND ACCUMULATED WHAT WAS THEN CONSIDERED A SIZEABLE FORTUNE."

THE TOMBSTONES AND MARKERS IN THE PISGAH CEMETERY ARE WIDELY SCATTERED AND ARE SO DISCOLORED THAT THEY BLEND IN WITH THE FOREST WHICH HAS OVERGROWN THE ENTIRE CEMETERY. EVIDENTLY A VAST NUMBER OF GRAVES WERE NEVER MARKED OR THE TOMBSTONES AND MARKERS ARE NO LONGER TO BE FOUND.